On average, the purchase price of an electric delivery bike is around €2.500. In addition, costs are incurred for personalising the bike. Consider costs for one (or more) rack(s) & delivery box(es) (€220), stickers (€125) and damage and theft insurance (€300 per year).
However, maintenance and repair costs are not included in the purchase price (including personalised parts). And those costs are there, because bikes in the business market are used intensively. There are also hidden costs, such as lost sales due to downtime. These costs are often forgotten, but should be included. After all, a bike that stands still costs the entrepreneur money directly.
All costs of a delivery bike
To identify all the costs for a delivery bike, ConnectBike collected information and experience figures from various food delivery parties at home and abroad (see table below). The purchase cost of the bike, personalised parts and insurance costs are fairly self-explanatory. It gets interesting when looking at the other cost items: maintenance and repair costs and lost sales due to downtime.
On average, a business owner has a regular service carried out four times a year. In addition, smaller unexpected incidents may occur (such as a flat tyre or losing a key). The older the bicycle, the more often parts need to be replaced or repaired. The number of unexpected repairs will therefore increase each year. On average, a delivery bike needs to be serviced or repaired a total of 24 times over a three-year period. Assuming an average labour cost of €75 each time, this adds up to €1,800 in 3 years. With this, more parts are replaced and repaired each year, totalling €1,600. The total cost of repair and maintenance thus comes to €3,400 in 3 years.
Often forgotten: downtime is lost sales
For maintenance and repair, entrepreneurs turn to the local bike shop. Due to the explosive growth in sales of E-bikes and the associated service bicycle repair shops are overloaded. This means that unexpected repairs or extra repairs during regular maintenance are often not carried out immediately. On average, the waiting time at bicycle repair shops is three working days. And this is where the hidden costs of a delivery bike come into play. After all, during those three days, the bike is stationary. And downtime costs the entrepreneur money in the form of lost turnover; about €200 per day. Over a period of three years, a delivery bike stands still three times on average in the first year. So this costs the entrepreneur 3 x 3 days x 200 per day is €1,800 in year one. In years two and three, downtime occurs more often as parts wear out and more repairs are needed. This increases the cost per year to €3,600 in year two and €4,800 in year three. In total, the revenue loss due to downtime over three years is €10.200!
Reduce lost sales by preventing downtime
Turnover loss due to downtime can be reduced by:
- Purchasing a high-quality delivery bike
- performing preventive maintenance, preferably every 6-8 weeks
- getting repairs done faster
A business owner can do the latter by taking out a service contract with a professional party that guarantees prompt execution of repairs (often through a Service Level Agreement) and also performs them on site, for example. This ensures no time is lost by transporting the bike.
Leasing a delivery bike from ConnectBike
All costs added together, a Giant electric delivery bike so €17.295 over a period of three years. An amount that scares many a business owner when faced with this. Curious to know what the cost is to have a lease delivery bike at ConnctBike? Then request a no-obligation quote now.
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